Call for Ideas - Lost Spaces Competition

Here is a really interesting competition coming up:

Design Talks Institute (d.talks), a design advocacy organization, in collaboration with WATERSHED+, a part of the City of Calgary’s Utilities & Environmental Protection Public Art program, aim to address a particular challenge of public space--what to do with seemingly remnant pieces of public property.

The Lost Spaces design competition asks professionals and students in the fields of art, architecture, design, and engineering to respond to the diverse challenges of design, social sustainability, and low impact design improvements. The ideas competition aims to explore alternatives improving the use, public realm and ecological value of a lost space. 

A ‘lost space’ is any space that remains underutilized within our urban environment. They might be leftover pieces, a ghost of the planning past. Lost spaces are part of the public realm, rarely designed to function with both social and environmental benefit to the city.
You may consider a lost space as a passageway, a roundabout, space between two buildings, a highway shoulder, or tenants of the city's history and memory.


Dates:
January 5th, 2015 - Registration opens
March 20th, 2015 - Registration and questions deadline
March 30th, 2015 - Submission due (23:59 MDT)
April 29th, 2015 - Winners announced

Awards:1st Prize: $7,500 CAD
Five field prizes: $3,000 CAD each  Fields include: Water Services, Roads and Transportation, Parks, Planning, and Public Art.
shortlist renumeration fee (up to six awarded): $1,000 CAD each

The JurySusan Szenasy, Editor in Chief, Metropolis Magazine
Shane Coen, Principal, Coen + Partners Landscape Architecture
Pierre Thibault, Principal, Atelier Pierre Thibault Architecture
Shauna Thompson, Curator, The Esker Foundation
Diana Sherlock, Independent Curator

produced by: d.talks
supported by: WATERSHED+ and The City of Calgary
more info: http://www.dtalks.org/call-for-ideas
to register: hello@dtalks.org

Pantone Perfect

Pantone Perfect, one of two projects we developed for the 2014 Urban Lights Ruhr in Hamm Germany, has been added to our website.

With the assistance of the the Musée d'histoire des sciences de Genèves, Switzerland, we recorded the exact Pantone value of each of the original 52 hues from Saussure's Cyanometre from 1787, and faithfully reproduced them in dry colour pigments. Each hour through the duration of the project, we followed Saussure's rigourous but ultimately futile attempt to measure precisely and reproduce the blueness of the sky. 

For more information on the project please click here.

Views of the West Coast of Scotland

In spring of 2014 the Glasgow School of Art suffered a fire that destroyed the famous Mackintosh Library and all its content. Cristine Garriga, a Master student from Glasgow School of Art, has responded to the fire with a video work called My Bookcase, where through filmed interviews with artists who had books held in the original collection, she is helping to reconstruct the Mackintosh library with stories regarding their books and reconstituting the collection.

Sans façon's contribution to the Library is 'Views of the West Coast of Scotland' which was made while in residency at Cove Park, in 2001. The publication was in collaboration with writer John Calcutt.

For more information about Cristine's project and to see her interview with Tristan click here.

 Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty

Avenue Magazines Top 40 under 40

Many thanks to Calgary's Avenue Magazine for making us one of their Top 40 Under 40 for 2014! We couldn't have done it without the exceptional people who help make WATERSHED+ possible.

Photo credit: Erin Brooke Burns

To read the Avenue Magazine interview with Tristan Surtees and Charles Blanc; click here

You Are Here - Glasgow 2014

The commonwealth games have wrapped and You Are Here is no longer present in the skyline of Glasgow. We are very grateful to have had such a great team who made it possible. Here are a few images of the Merchant City during the games.

Cacher pour mieux montrer

Follow the link below to hear an interesting conversation on CBC Saskatoon with Janet Zweig, Jury member for American’s for the Arts', Public Art Year in Review, about our project Cacher pour mieux montrer (Hide to show better) which received recognition as one of the top public art projects in North America in 2013.

CBC RADIO LINK

You Are Here - Glasgow 2014

You are here has been commissioned for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

You are here playfully references the red arrow found on maps to identify your location, first shown at National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, You are here will now be in the heart of Glasgow, hovering over the cultural hub in the Merchant City for the duration of the Games and the Merchant City Festival.

Critical Theory Book Club

We are co-hosting Andrea Williamson’s critical theory book club tonight, this will be the second of three. Looking at site-specific Art, our second pick is an excerpt titled 'Sitings of Public Art: Integration Versus Intervention' found in 'One Place after Another' written by Miwon Kwon.
If you’re interested you can sign up here, or if your not in Calgary and would like to read along with us, we’ll keep the blog up to date with the next book selected.

Public Art Network - Year In Review

We’ve just received confirmation that our piece Cacher pour mieux montrer (Hide to show better), commissioned by the City of Saskatoon's Placemaker Program, has been recognized by the Americans for the Arts and selected for the Public Art Network - 2014 Year in Review, along with two of our WATERSHED+ projects.

Americans for the Arts recognizes outstanding public art projects in North America each year. This year PAN received 345 applications from public art programs and artists. A total of 37 projects were selected from the open call process. We feel very honoured to be recognized by the Americans for the Arts.

CREATIVE CITY SUMMIT

Join us for the Creative City Network of Canada Summit in Hamilton this week! We will be participating as both keynote speakers and in the Peer-to-Peer Presentations!

For more information click here.

VIDEO UPDATE

We are working on a series of videos to share the innovative working process of WATERSHED+. For this first video city managers and engineers of this City of Calgary Business Unit talk about the ground-level integration of professional contemporary artists in their day-to-day working process:

Fire Hydrant Fountains

The weather must be getting warmer because the testing of the fire hydrant fountains has started! We will be launching the first of the season at the Calgary International Children’s Festival happening from the 21st to 24th of May. Watch for the fountains throughout the summer as they will be installed to provide drinkable water at festivals and special events.

CREATIVE CITY SUMMIT, HAMILTON 2014

Just confirmed we are Keynote Speakers for Creative City Network of Canada Summit in Hamilton, Ontario from June 11-13 and also taking part in the Public Art Round Table and panel discussions.  We are delighted to be invited and hope to see you there!

Critical Theory Book Club

Andrea Williamson has kindly invited us to co-host her critical theory book club for the next three events looking at Public Art, our first pick is an essay titled Space, Place, and Site in Critical Spatial Arts Practice by Jane Rendell found in The Practice of Public Art; Edited by Cameron Cartiere and Shelly Willis. If you’re interested you can sign up here, or if your not in Calgary and would like to read along with us, we’ll keep the blog up to date with the latest books selected.

ACAD Panel Discussion

A big thanks to ACAD and the Illingworth Kerr Gallery for inviting us to be part of the Panel Discussion following Jørn Mortensen’s fabulous talk on the 31st of March. It is timely conversation to be had and we found the discussion thought provoking and enjoyable.

Bristol Promenade Update

Our project for the end of the Brunel Mile in Bristol is near completion and here are a few more pictures of the progress!

It started life as an exploration of spaces and planes defining a public space, and later morphed into a design responding more precisely to the particular man-made conditions to create a landscape specific to the space.

Photo Credit Cullinan Studios

Photo Credit Cullinan Studios

Photo Credit Cullinan Studios

The final design is a boardwalk promenade space along a meadowy landscape fed by the runoff rainwater from the adjacent building. In collaboration with Cullinan Studio Architects and Grants Associates the journey of the rainwater is celebrated with the visible drain pipes, collection dishes and open rills distributing the water onto the grassland slope.
The different growing conditions (slope, orientation, rainwater runoff) are highlighted by the use of a variety of biodiversity and habitats (grasses, damp grassland, marginal vegetation and woodland groundcover). Combined with these conditions the experience of the harbour side (ruderal plants and riparian habitat) is drawn up into the Promenade.


This project was commissioned by Crest Nicholson Regeneration as part of the Harbourside development.

Six Acres Update

On our way to Ruhr we stopped in to see the progress of our project Six Acres. Things are progressing along quickly! Looking forward to sharing the completed images, but for now here is a sneak peak.

Urban Künste Ruhr

We’ve just come back from a workshop in the ruhr area for Urban Künste Rühr and what a pleasure it was! Urbane Künste Ruhr is based on the unique urban landscape of the Ruhr Area and works together with artists, networks, and cultural institutions to investigate the core of urbanity. We’re looking forward to continue working with them.

CACHER POUR MIEUX MONTRER

We'll be returning to Saskatoon on Friday to conclude Cacher pour mieux montrer by unveiling the 12 covered works. We have also been invited to give a talk about our work, making this project, and the public's response to date. The talk is open to the public.

Date: Friday, December 6
Time: 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Location: The Gallery at the Frances Morrison Central Library
311 - 23rd Street East, Saskatoon, Saskatchwan